


Never Enough

by cafe_au_late



Series: Wedding Dress [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Hurt No Comfort, Unrequited Love, You Have Been Warned, angsty, one sided edeleth, wedding fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25137733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafe_au_late/pseuds/cafe_au_late
Summary: Edelgard was getting married.Edelgard was getting married to someone who wasn't Byleth. Byleth's heart ached at that thought. It ached with every beat that it took, knowing that Edelgard was not hers, never had been and now, never will. Byleth was a fool, a fool who was in love with her best friend.But Edelgard was happy and that would be enough for Byleth.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Hilda Valentine Goneril/Edelgard von Hresvelg
Series: Wedding Dress [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820875
Comments: 15
Kudos: 57





	Never Enough

**Author's Note:**

> There's a part one to this! You can read that first if you'd like. It wasn't written with any order in mind but I think reading the part one makes this one all that much angstier?
> 
> :)

“How do I look, By?” 

Byleth stared as her best friend twirled around happily in her beautiful white wedding dress. A soft smile came over her face. Edelgard looked beautiful. She always had, always would. She could probably wear a potato sack and Byleth would still think that she looked beautiful. 

Perhaps beautiful wasn’t enough to describe the way that Edelgard looked. Byleth’s heart ached with how stunning, gorgeous, amazing, wonderful Edelgard was. It ached with how happy Edelgard was right now, ready to begin the next big chapter of her life.

It ached with every beat that it took, knowing that Edelgard was not hers, never had been and now, never will. Byleth was a fool, a fool who was in love with her best friend. But Edelgard was happy and that had to be enough for Byleth. 

“You look beautiful,” the words spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them. It was true. She couldn’t help herself when it came to Edelgard, such truths spilled out of her lips like a cup under a waterfall. It was easy, natural to tell Edelgard these things.

Byleth used to tell Edelgard everything. 

Now a single truth sat at the bottom of Byleth’s heart, chained down by the weight of Edelgard’s happiness, never to surface. There was only one lie that Byleth had ever told Edelgard, a lie of omission so she could hide the truth at the bottom of her heart. The joy on Edelgard’s face right now was another rock tied to that truth, sinking it further in an ocean of distant longing.

Her father's ring dangled loosely on a chain around Byleth’s neck. For the person that you love, he had told her. Now that ring and chain felt like an immovable stone on Byleth’s chest, a burdening reminder for the rest of her days.

Byleth busied herself with fixing the veil in Edelgard’s hair, adjusting it so that it was balanced correctly. If she let herself stand still, she would never move forward again. She had to keep moving no matter how much it hurt.

A cruel little voice wondered if she would get some sick sense of satisfaction from watching the wedding go wrong. 

But she could never ruin Edelgard’s happiness. Not when that was all that Byleth ever asked for. Not when Edelgard's happiness had to be enough for Byleth.

“Hey, don’t let my wife-to-be hear you say that,” Edelgard swatted Byleth’s bicep lightly, “She’ll get jealous.” Edelgard joked. 

Byleth’s heart clenched inside of her and she buried that feeling with a small smile, hoping that it didn’t seem too forced. Perhaps she was a glutton for punishment, agreeing to be Edelgard’s maid of honour for this wedding when every fibre of her very being screamed in protest and pain.

Those words falling from Edelgard’s lips, crystallizing and coming together to a sharp point until they cut through Byleth’s very being.

_Wife-to-be._

It was like a beautiful, ornate, glass dagger, begging you to pick it up, coaxing you to touch its ice cold form, only for it to turn and plunge into your heart. It didn’t matter how beautiful the knife was, it was a knife after all, and it served its purpose.

“Let her be,” Byleth found herself saying. “It’s the truth.” 

She felt hollow inside, like she was tearing herself apart, leaving nothing behind but this empty shell on autopilot, going through the motions of life. It felt like she was watching a movie play out before her eyes, scarcely registering the sudden arrival of Edelgard’s mother to check up on her daughter before the big moment.

This couldn’t be real, a small part of Byleth’s heart whispered sadly, defeated. Because if it was real then it meant that this was it. There were no more possibilities.

But Edelgard was happy.

And that had to be enough for Byleth.

“Byleth, honey, you should go get in position, we’ll be starting soon.” Byleth’s eyes snapped back into focus, finding Patrica and Edelgard’s attention on her all of a sudden.

Byleth nodded as Patricia left. This was it. 

“Okay, El. I’ll see you at the altar then.” It wouldn’t be the way that she wanted. But this was what Edelgard wanted. Edelgard was happy. This could be what Byleth wanted too.

Byleth squeezed Edelgard in a tight hug, relishing in this last moment of contact. She took a deep breath, as if she could commit the smell of Edelgard to memory. The warmth and familiarity of Edelgard nearly overwhelmed her and Byleth had to pull away before she did something foolish.

“You’re worrying too much, By.” Edelgard smiled at her. “Everything will be fine. And if something goes wrong. We’ll deal with it together.”

_Together._

Maybe in a different lifetime.

With one last look at her, Byleth left, trying her best to smile and be happy for her best friend.

Edelgard was happy. That would be enough for Byleth.

* * *

It had only been minutes since Byleth last saw Edelgard. But seeing her walk down the aisle with Ionius at her side was like seeing her for the first time all over again. That moment of connection that they had when Byleth had met her in school snapping back into place. A spark of something indescribable.

For a second, Byleth allowed herself to imagine that Edelgard was walking down the aisle toward her instead. She couldn’t lie to Edelgard, but she could definitely lie to herself. The dream began to shatter as Edelgard walked ever closer, each step forward sending another series of cracks through the thin veil until the whole dream shattered into thousands of little pieces of glass, daring Byleth to try to scrape her hands raw to try to put her foolish dream back together again.

Edelgard only had eyes for the other woman at the altar, dressed in an equally splendid wedding dress. 

_Hilda._

It was like a stranger was walking down the aisle in that wedding dress. It was like Byleth’s heart and mind and soul couldn’t even register the idea that Edelgard could be walking down the aisle in a wedding dress for someone else, that Edelgard wasn’t hers.

Wouldn’t ever be hers.

Then Ferdinand began speaking, his words a death knell in Byleth’s heart. 

All the words sort of blurred together as Byleth stood there, smiling politely. The perfect picture of the supportive best friend.

Byleth still remembered all the fights that Edelgard and Hilda had. The almost break ups and arguments that would ensue. All of the nights that she spent consoling Edelgard, holding her close and telling her that everything would be fine, that she would be happy again.

Edelgard was happy. That would be enough for Byleth.

She would always support Edelgard, no matter how much it pained her to do so.

Even so, a part of her berated herself for being such a coward. If she had mustered up the courage to say what she really felt instead of hiding her feelings away, afraid of rejection and the loss of their friendship, she could be up on that altar right now instead of Hilda.

  
  


Fortune favoured the bold, so did love, it seemed.

And Byleth had been a coward. Too afraid of the what ifs to see what she could have had.

She had so many opportunities, and she squandered every single one of them, trading them in for safety, believing that she couldn’t get her heart broken if she never gave it to anyone else.

Instead, she had broken her own heart, dropping it on the floor and then burying it’s shattered remains so far down that to dig it up again meant perhaps forgetting why she had buried it in the first place.

“I now pronounce you wife and wife! The brides may kiss!” Byleth looked up in time to see Hilda and Edelgard lean in and kiss, the two of them twirling around in joyous celebration. Byleth caught a glimpse of Edelgard’s smiling face, she was laughing as Hilda peppered her face with kisses.

Edelgard was happy.

That was enough for Byleth.

  
  
  
  


It was never enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my self-indulgent little fics!
> 
> I just had to get it out of my system before I could focus on other things. Maybe I'll revisit it one day. 
> 
> It's technically an very distant weird AU of an AU that is still a work in progress? 
> 
> And yes. It was inspired by the oldie but goodie kpop song Wedding Dress by Taeyang. (Hence the series title).
> 
> (Take a peek at Fodlan_Olympics over on twitter :D )
> 
> Stay safe out there!


End file.
